"Right now, I'm starting to make progress, but it's slow," said Scott Crabbe. "I've walked as far as from my bed to the hallway."

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The hit-and-run driver launched him across Manor Road, but Scott Crabbe says he's determined to get back in the classroom and back to coaching track as soon as he's physically able.

Crabbe, 39, the varsity cross country and track-and-field coach at McKee/Staten Island Tech High School, is on the mend at Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, after an SUV struck him when he crossed College Road Nov. 12.

The crash broke his pelvis, ruptured his bladder, left a nasty laceration on one leg, and has left him short of breath, he said.

"Right now, I'm starting to make progress, but it's slow," he said, referring to his injury as a stable fracture. "I've walked as far as from my bed to the hallway."

He expects to be out of the hospital in about a week and a half, and says that in a few weeks, "I definitely plan on being back teaching."

Crabbe, who teaches science at McKee, has worked there for 11 years, and has coached MSIT track for the past decade.

"I'll be back coaching as much as normal. As soon as possible," he said.

One student who contacted the Advance, Jeremy Duenas, said his classmates in Living Environment already miss Crabbe, and are eager for news about his recovery.

"When I met Mr. Crabbe in September, I knew he was gonna be a cool teacher, and he was. I've only known him for two short months but he's an awesome teacher and a great person; McKee misses him," Duenas said.

So far, Crabbe said, about 25 to 30 of his current athletes and alumni have come to see him at the hospital.

"My athletes, they definitely want to see me," he said. "It's made me feel really good."

Crabbe lives on Manor Road, and he said was on his way back from the Fill Your Belly Deli about a block away, gallon of milk in hand, when the 8:15 p.m. incident took place.

He crossed College Avenue at the crosswalk, he said, and though he doesn't remember if he had the light, he thought he had enough time to get across before the approaching SUV reached the intersection.

But the vehicle hit him, he said, and kept on driving. "It sent me across Manor Road."

Crabbe managed to get back on his feet and walk back home, worried that his 12-year-old and 6-year-old children would be alone and, he suspects, acting on adrenaline. He then called his parents, who live nearby, and 911.

Once home, "I realized I had a big laceration on my leg, a big laceration, and I couldn't sit," he said. "It turns out it fractured my pelvis."

As for the vehicle, Crabbe said he doubts the driver didn't know if he or she struck him, since the street was covered with glass and debris the next day.

"It was a black SUV, and I don't know much more than that," he said.

An NYPD spokeswoman confirmed that vehicle description. Police are asking anyone with information about the incident to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477), visit nypdcrimestoppers.com or send text tips to CRIMES (274637), then enter TIP577.

When asked what he'd say to the driver, Crabbe said, "It would be nice to know why. What was going through your mind? Why would you allow something like that to happen? Why wouldn't you stop?"